Show Off Your FSU

But but but they are all the same!! :p....
Oddly enough that's also what my darling wife says about my Les Pauls...but that's another story.

Thank you for the compliment, Marcelo. I do enjoy them all as the unique individuals we both appreciate them to be!

Philip.
 
Kiev 19 with Helios 81N, foto made in 1991. the movie camera is still in working order)))

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This Soviet camera is very special and unique. Although thousands of Zorki-4 were made, this one was an inscribed gift to A. J. Vozhkov, officer of the Soviet Army! The wonderful handmade cyrillic inscription in the back of the camera says more or less this in Russian:

Aлександру Якоблебку Божкоѵ
6 день 25 · летия служсбыь С. А
oм друзей и сослуживцев.
10.06.1967.

That is, translated: "To Alexander Yakovlevitch Bozhkov, in his 25th anniversary of service in the Soviet Army, from their friends and mates, June the 10th of 1967".

So, here we have a member of the Soviet Army celebrating his 25 years of service. He is obviously an officer, and entered service June 10th, 1942, JUST before the start of Fall Blau, the Wehrmach offensive towards the Volga and the Caucasus, which ended in the disaster of Stalingrad. Fall Blau began on the 28th of June, just when our A. Y. Bozhkov started his third week in the then Red Army. Maybe he was part of the huge drama arround the Volga.


This camera was obviously made in 1967, as it has the conmemorative edition decal for the 50 years of the 1917 October revolution. It works, but I've not used it as the rangefinder is misaligned and the slow speeds lag.


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Maybe the most compact (yet heavy) panoramic camera in the World, the KMZ FT-2. This one was made in 1965, a late model export example. It works quite well (except in extreme cold, when once the mechanism refused to work), although composing is rather a guess work. And loading it's special cassettes is a pain in the...


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but the pictures it takes are quite spectacular!


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My Fed 3
Some customizing was necessary:
- Ever ready case converted to half case - the camera has no lugs to attach a strap.
- Soft release button added - shutter release button adds some height to the release button. Now it's the same height as the ISO dial/reminder over the advance lever.
- Thumb up grip (not visible on the photo) - does what it should and is a perfect fit.
- Leatherette by cameraleather.com
- Wide camera strap - at the weight of 750g incl. film any narrow strap would be a pain in the ... neck
- My favourite lens: Jupiter 8 - red P version with focusing tab. It was just lying in my drawer waiting for the right body. Was a perfect match.
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My new Kiev 2a (an addition to Kiev 4a). This one is from 1955, very nice appearance, I am running the first roll though it, hope all is fine (that's what the seller assured me of :). Paid 50 EUR for the combo (with J8 from 1957), so - no regrets. J8 is a bit worn-out and I believe I see some fungus signs on the front element (at the edges), but I also have mint J8M from seventies, so I might swap those two.

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